Pure of Heart (2015)Fanfare Band

Pure of Heart was commissioned for the Burry Port Town Band by the organisers of Cydweli 900, a community initiative set up to celebrate the history of the town of Kidwelly in it’s 900th anniversary year, 2015. Generous support for the commission was given thanks to legacy funding from the now disbanded Mynyddygarreg Silver Prize Band.

The piece itself is popular in style, celebrating the long established connection between Kidwelly and Mynyddygarreg, whose rail linked coal mine and tin plate works were symbiotic during their industrial heyday.

The sound of an industrial landscape and railway are referenced through the band’s percussion section, who at one stage play a selection of metal bars, piping and anvils. The hymn tune ‘Calon Lan’, written by well known West Wales composer John Hughes (1872 - 1914), was chosen as the main source of thematic material as a reflection of the connection between community music making and heavy industry in Wales and beyond. Interestingly, John Hughes himself had a background as a steel worker as well as being a church organist and hymn tune composer.

The composer and Burry Port Town Band congratulate the town of Kidwelly on this milestoneanniversary.